Editorial.

Abstract

We have been delighted to feature editorials from previous editors of the journal this year. These have offered personal reflections, entertaining anecdotes, and valuable insights into the ways that both the Medical Law Review and the broader discipline have developed over the last 30 years. Ian Kennedy and Andrew Grubb’s memory of poring over the creation of case notes is particularly striking, with the recollection of engaging with non-medical law cases in order to reflect on their role in the future development of medical law providing a glimpse into the early shaping of the discipline. Since then, it is evident that medical law has developed significantly into a discipline in its own right, with some of the comments from colleagues that Hazel Biggs recalls (‘it’s just tort isn’t it’)1 thankfully considerably rarer these days. The vitality of medical law (or health law) is reflected in the quality of the scholarship in the pages of the Medical Law Review and in more generalist legal journals, with the Chair of the UK Research Excellence Framework (REF) 2021 Law Subpanel noting the strength of medical law in her reflections on the current state of legal studies.2